Maybe the last 24 Hours of Moab

It took Chris and I a while to solidify our 24 Hours of Moab team. We finally convinced Josh and Matt to join us again. Chris and I headed down on Saturday morning. It was supposed to get cold Friday night and we are not really cold weather campers or people in general. While it was nice to sleep in our own bed, we were greeted with a snow storm not far up Spanish Fork Canyon. Nothing like winter driving conditions on Highway 6! The storm broke as we descended into Price. Then we hit more rain as we approached I-70 and it lasted through Moab to the event site. It continued to rain until 11 or so. And while the moisture stopped it never really warmed up. 

Snow on the La Sals in October

I found this year to difficult. The actual racing was not as hard as last year mainly because I got LOTS more rest between laps. The course was in great condition, but it was still challenging. First, it was cold at night. I actually dressed really well for each of my laps. And racing was comfortable. It was just hard to get ready mentally. I know boo-hoo. I am a big wimp what can I say. And since I am whining, I will continue. The other challenge was fueling. I have had to make recent changes to my diet. It is restrictive and forces me to be conscious of what I eat. I can no longer simply eat whatever sounds good as in years past. And much of what sounded good and was available, I could not eat.

Chris on his "hot" lap

 Chris started us off coming in first off the starting lap and laying down an impressive time, 1:01:47. Then Josh and Matt went out with solid times. My first lap was in the late afternoon. The legs took a while to come around and I ended up with a 1:15:35. I hoped for something better, but I always do. My next lap started my night rotations with a 1:20:45 and 1:23:44. Then I ended up with the chilly morning transition lap, 1:25:06. Finally the sun came out and it warmed up a bit. Matt came in at 10:45. I had every intention of just taking it easy and finishing. There was no reason to really push. I knew I could not get in with time to send Chris out. Then I started to feel really good and was having fun. I was soaking up the sun. My final lap was 1:18:05. This was faster than I expected it to be.

We ended up in 2^nd place on the day behind a crazy fast 4 Men Pro Honey Stingers team. They had a couple of guys throwing down sub hour times. But the vast majority of the time difference came from me.